LeAnna Cumber, Daniel Davis lead October fundraising in Jax mayoral race

While Democrat Donna Deegan scored plenty of earned media with her entry into the 2023 Jacksonville mayoral race, two prospective Republican candidates won the fundraising battle for the month.

Republicans LeAnna Cumber and Daniel Davis dominated October fundraising with big hauls for each.

Cumber’s JAX First Committee brought in $359,771 in donations, according to the finance report filed with the state of Florida Wednesday.

That follows a $961,000 debut in September, meaning that after just two months as an active pre-candidate, the current Jacksonville City Council member already has $1.2 million for whatever may come next.

Among the Cumber donors in October who don’t always get involved in Jacksonville mayoral races were Tampa’s Jeff Vinik and Miami Heat veteran Udonis Haslem.

Even with Cumber’s strong October haul, she still has ground to make up.

Davis’ Building a Better Economy political committee brought in $274,000. While that was less than Cumber’s October performance, Davis’ account now has nearly $3 million on hand.

October donations were mostly from donors in the region, including two names of note: former Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton and professional golfer Jim Furyk.

Deegan’s Donna for Duval account, meanwhile, did not keep up with that pace.

October saw just over $30,000 in contributions, suggesting that even after four months as a pre-candidate, the fundraising did not manifest without a formal campaign structure. The account has roughly $190,000 cash on hand.

Deegan’s did make up ground on one Republican candidate who tells Florida Politics he is downshifting his fundraising for the holidays.

Council member Matt Carlucci brought in just $5,500 to his Next Generation Jax political committee. That account has just under $700,000 in it. He has roughly $250,000 in his campaign account, a total that does not yet include October numbers.

Though Deegan still has ground to make up compared to three Republicans, she leads a fourth GOP candidate: Jacksonville City Council member Al Ferraro.

Ferraro raised just $4.09 to his campaign account in October, interest from VyStar. He has a little under $50,000 in hard money. His political committee was also dormant except for interest, stuck at roughly $117,000.

Fundraising has not been filed for independent candidates Omega Allen, Richard Danford, and Darcy Richardson at this writing.

The lopsided GOP field is especially interesting given a Democratic registration edge. A total of 264,862 Democrats are registered to vote, compared to just 227,189 registered Republicans.

More candidates could emerge as there is more than a year to go before the real campaigning begins. Qualifying week runs Jan. 9-13, 2023.

The First Election, which pits all qualified candidates against each other, is March 21, 2023. Assuming no one in the field gets more than 50% of the vote, the General Election is May 16, 2023.